RE: Déjà vu
by Denki Rexi
Summary: Waking up in a strange forested place with no inkling as to where you are isn't fun; Not to Neku at least. Being in such a situation then prompts Neku to find his way back home. Armed with a piece of paper with a faded pawprint mark and a vague memory of a story about birds, How is Neku to understand and escape this predicament of sorts? [AU] (potential crackfic though I hope not)
1. Chapter 1

_A/N: Hi all! First fic in the twewy section! This was inspired by the most random prompt generator and thus, I'm sorry if it's random and all. If I do finish this short story, it may seem like a crack fic of sorts. 5 chapters maximum if I were to approximate. God help me, I don't know. And Neku's wearing a purplish parka because it's winter-ish right now and I like parkas (look up komokuten from Jupiter of the Monkey!) Okay, have fun reading anyways!_

* * *

He held up the small piece of paper, seeped in sepia, with the faded inking of what seemed like a pawprint etched on it. The wind swirled about the boy in heavy gusts, threatening to tear the fragile looking piece of paper. At the slap of a stray leaf on his face, the boy narrowed his eyes once more at the pawprint before gently slipping it into his parka's pocket.

"Hachiko...?"

His voice was a whisper. But even then, it seemed like a booming force. A few more stray leaves float from the trees, sliding down the haphazard wind currents before resting on the earth. The boy takes a step forward. _Crunch_. The sudden crisp sound cracked the silence open, sending a jolt down the boy's spine. His eyes immediately fall to the ground. Dying leaves of a variety lie in a scattered array. Each carried with it a distorted symbol of death as carved in its shrivelled appearance.

The year is 2013. As per the chime of a distant bell tower a few hours ago, the world entered yet another new year. But the boy didn't hear the bell. He couldn't have heard it. Standing in the middle of a barren land laden with nature's waste where dying trees stagger upright in a circumferential panorama, the boy squints towards the direction of the sun, frozen in time. Buildings marked with age still stand staunch, ever reaching for the skies in the distance. As expected of the growing concrete jungle that is the city of Japan. But from where the boy stood, the buildings were a great distance away. Looking around again, the boy grumbled a string of incomprehensible words. The purplish clothes that he had on made him a jarring sight in the midst of the orange shade of the landscape. But naturally, that wasn't the thing that the boy was feeling peeved about.

"Grrr..! What's the deal with this place now? I've been walking on for god knows how long and there's not a soul! Plus, I still don't understand where I am or what I'm supposed to do!" His voice, though not by any normal account loud, pierced through the silence again. Frustration clearly lined his words. After all, it wasn't too long ago that the boy found himself waking in the middle of a forested area without any knowledge as to why. All he could remember prior to the forest was him visiting Hanekoma's little café and admiring his favourite graffiti murals in Udagawa's back streets. But like a bad case of déjà vu, here he is now, lost in the middle of some dying forested area.

"Okay, focus, Neku. We've been in a stupid situation like this once and panicking isn't gonna help. Period."

Neku closed his eyes and with a deep breath, flushed out the panic attack that he was just about to have jumped into. Suddenly being struck with a newly discovered piece of memory, his eyes flew open.

"Wait! Wasn't there an old lady whom I passed by ages ago?" Ruffling his bright orange spiked hair, Neku made grunting noises as he forced the neurons in his brain to locate information regarding this old lady he remembered seeing. But after a minute or so of brain racking, Neku let out an exasperated sigh.

"Ughh, it's no good. All I can vaguely remember is that old lady going on about some story about some birds flying away? Crap, I can't even remember what she said exactly!"

Another gust of wind sweeps at Neku's shoes in the direction of the buildings. Leaves ride the sudden wind currents before settling again. Far above in the skies, a single bird flies towards the concrete jungle. Its shrill cry instantly caught the upset boy's attention as he craned his neck towards its direction.

"A bird, huh? I'm gonna assume this is a sign that I should follow."

After kicking at the dead leaves for no particular reason, Neku continued towards the direction of the distant city. The even strokes of a paintbrush dipped in a bucket of evening hues spread across the time-frozen world. A brighter tone of orange is used to create the circular blot of paint that is the sun. Its rays stretch towards Neku like outstretched palms. A beckoning sign or perhaps something else? Not that the boy would particularly notice anyways. With each step he took, the sound of leaves being crumpled beneath his feet grew louder. This was strange because apart from Neku's voice, the crunching noise of leaves and that random cry from a single bird in the sky, everything else that surrounded Neku was silent. The supposed whistling from constant gusts of wind was silenced. The rustling of dead leaves dancing with the wind was silenced. The cackling of branches from the withered trees was silenced. While the silence bore heavily on the boy (he knew without a doubt that there was a lack of sound) he had more important things to address: Where exactly is he right now and how is he supposed to get back to where he was before waking up to a forest.

"At least there isn't a time limit unlike the Reaper's Game." Neku mumbled to himself. He pulled out his right hand that was resting deep in his parka's pockets and stared at his palm. _No painful timer present. Check. _But as his train of thought chugged through the memories of the missions during his stay in the Reaper's Game and how time limits of each mission were seared onto the palms of the Players, a gnawing sensation gradually inched across Neku's palm.

"Oh no you've gotta be kidding me! Ngghh!"

The all-too-familiar pain from being marked with a timer caused Neku to wince slightly in pain. His eyes immediately widened at the sight of his palm.

'_I lied'_

Instead of a timer ticking towards potential death, this time, two words were carved onto his skin in that signature Reaper's Game font. Shocked and confused, Neku instinctively flexed his fingers before gently sliding his other thumb across the words. It didn't hurt; at least not anymore. Here he stood in the middle of nowhere with no idea why or where exactly he was. Couple that with a relatively eerie silence and him being marked with the words _'I lied'; _Neku had every reason to freak out even if he had been casted on centre stage as a Player in the Reaper's Game before.

"I don't understand anything anymore. But for now, I'd better get back to familiar grounds. Fast!"

_This isn't Shibuya anymore._


	2. Chapter 2

_A/N: This took a while. Laziness kills. Ah, I hope you'll enjoy what I write (somehow)!_

* * *

What started out as slow, grudging trudges through the foreign landscape quickly evolved into a hurried jog of sorts. Not that you can blame him. Acting on instinct, Neku pulled out his cell phone and jammed the 'mail' button. After a thorough scan of the screen, he flicked it close and dropped it back in his pockets. A frown gradually deepened on his brow.

_No mission mail this time. _

Neku's brain had already automatically synchronised his thoughts to match his behaviours during the Reaper's Game which he was so unfortunately sucked into a while ago. What better way to react in an unknown situation than based on prior experiences? Neku took another quick glance at his marked palm. Here he is, running towards what he assumed to be the goal with no idea what the catch was or whether or not he might even get erased. Hell, the last time he checked, he was good and alive in the back alleys of Udagawa. But then again, that fact can be so easily turned upside down. Shaking his head slightly, he made a series of grumbling sounds.

_Ughh…I can't be dead again, can I?_

The sound of crunching leaves was the only thing that accompanied Neku as he ran. A different soft set of crunching leaves played in dissonance from the direction Neku was headed towards. But Neku failed to notice them. Lurking behind the hollow branches, the shadowy creatures leapt from tree to tree and closed in on Neku. With an unnatural shriek, these shadows burst into the open. Disjointed and tattooed claws from the wolf-like creatures tore at random flailing leaves. Similarly fashioned frog-like creatures flanked Neku from the sides, tongues flapping and strange talons outstretched.

"Noise?!" Neku shouted as his eyes dilated and absorbed the freakish horde of monsters that have homed in on him. His hands scrambled for his parka in search for his player pin but he quickly remembered that they have long been discarded. The first frog Noise clawed the air right in front of Neku, causing the boy to frantically fall back in shock. Scrambling back to his feet in an unsteady pace, Neku kicked at the dirt of the earth before running in the direction he came from. The Noises easily caught up though. Neku's helpless attempt to escape created messy pockets of crunching noises interweaved with the Noises' howls and shrieking croaks. With a louder than normal howl, the wolf Noise pounced. Its claws hooked onto the hood of Neku's parka, ripping the fabric and tripping the boy. Neku fell flat on his back with a yelp. His hands immediately started clawing the ground frantically as he tried to force himself back up on his feet. With a snarl, the wolf jammed its bright coloured claws down on Neku's chest, baring its dirty white fangs inches from his face.

_No partner, no pins! Shit I'm gonna be erased!_ Neku's lips trembled with fear. It's been some time since his last encounter with a Noise. Not to mention, he is utterly defenseless at the moment and at the mercy of this one wolf Noise. Desperate times call for desperate measures; Neku crushed a handful of dead leaves in one hand and forcefully threw it at the wolf's face. The wolf let out an astonished yelp. Its grip on Neku slackened momentarily, allowing the boy to muster enough strength to pull himself from its grip. But as Neku staggered back, he felt his back come into contact with something else; something furry. Instincts took over the boy's body movements, prompting Neku to spin around instantaneously. Neku's eyes darted anxiously about the three other Noises that surrounded him.

_Damn! This is bad! Really bad!_

Neku slid his hands back into his pockets. His body was in a crouched position. In body language terms, it's probably the position that screamed helplessness and the desire to flee. Neku's fingers then came into contact with the piece of paper that he had stowed in his pocket earlier. Warmth was emanating from it. A flash of confusion crossed Neku's eyes as he glanced over his protruding pockets. But his attention was quickly snapped back to the Noises who had him surrounded as they made loud shrieking calls. A four-pronged attack; all four creatures leapt towards Neku simultaneously, hooked claws and talons in plain sight. As his final and most pointless action, Neku squeezed his eyes shut, raised both hands over his head and braced himself for the impending attacks. In his hand, the pawprint on the piece of paper suddenly glowed with an orange aura. The heat level of the paper increased again.

"Huh?!" Neku's eyelids opened ever so slightly. Through his slit eyes, he peered at the glowing pawprint. Then, a gush of heat swept past him before being fanned into flames. The Noise were quickly repelled by the sudden burst of fire from around the boy. Slight charred marks sprout across patches of the noises' bodies. Two neat rows of blackened leaves were burnt into the otherwise orange patch of earth; two neat rows that ended with a cursive pattern. From a bird's eye view, the scorch marks from the flames would look like a compressed heart shape of sorts. And Neku sat stunned right in the middle of it.

"Woah! What just happened?!" Having his voice returned to him after that momentary shock, Neku blurted out. His mouth hung agape as he stared at the Noises who were now a relatively safe distance away; relative to him being cornered just a minute ago that is. Blinking himself back to his senses, Neku pushed himself off the ground, ready to escape at any time again. But the Noises were equally prepared. Then, looking at the piece of paper he had been pinching, he noticed the faint glow again.

_This paper? Was that...a psych?_

The menacing growls resumed, louder and angrier. Each of the Noise seemed ready for round 2; the wolf Noises' fur stood on edge and the frogs' tongues kept flicking in and out of their slobbery mouths. Gross. Neku gritted his teeth and glared at the dangerous creatures before him. And as if in response with Neku's heightened emotions of fear and irritation, the pawprint glowed brighter again. The now familiar sensation of heat spread across Neku's fingers; it was the kind of warmth one feels when running their fingers across the surface of the hot springs; very comfortable.

_If this piece of paper works the same way as psych pins…_Neku lowered his mind into a more stable state of calm. Slowly, his eyelids closed; the splattering of thoughts that made up the slate in his head dissolved. His hand stretched out before him, palm facing the Noise. Before the Noise could make a move, a second wave of flames sparked from thin air and blazed towards them. Hopping about in a frantic dance, the Noises were forced into disarray as they tried to avoid being burnt again. Then, Neku's eyes flew open. His outstretched arm made a plummeting movement; his fingers crunched together as he did so.

Heeding the boy's command, streaks of lightning tore from the cloudless skies, zapping the unexpected Noise. Blackish burn marks fizzled about their skin causing chips of tattoo decals to peel right off them. Two of the more unfortunate Noise faced complete erasure; greyish blurs of pixelation circled the two frog-like Noises and like a tractor beam teleporting its trapped victim into another dimension, so did the Noises disappear.

_Right! That's two erased! Just two more now!_

But like a bolt out of the blue, traces of yet another foreign party's presence caught Neku's attention. Something was approaching him and fast. Squeezing the thin piece of paper in his hand, Neku stretched out his other free hand once again. His eyes maintained a piercing glare in the general direction of the foreign sound (and the other Noise as well). A black swiping motion suddenly flew from the distance, punching the wolf Noises skywards. Capitalizing on the sudden break in the Noises' defense, Neku's mind traced the approximate coordinates of the free falling Noise before his hands made another downward crunching movement. Sparks engulfed the Noise again until they too were deported to the next dimension.

All the shuffling sounds and loudness of the earlier predicament quickly faded into another blank of silence again. And as the silence settled itself down, a girl stepped into the clearing. She was clad in clothes that seemed to be another variant of Shibuya's current fashion trend. Neku's eyes popped and his jaw dropped at the sight of a familiar friend.

_Eri?! Uh no, wait, Shiki..?_

The girl hugged the black plush toy, which looked like a hybrid of a cat and a pig of sorts, which she had used to knock the Noise skyward. Neku was in a state of shock; his eyes ran over every part of the girl. _There's no mistaking it. She looks exactly like Eri! But, that's Shiki, right?_

Their eyes met briefly before the girl averted her eyes. In a surprised tone, she spoke up:

"Huh..?"


End file.
